I can't believe Seattle can support six oldies stations, and can't find a way to get Smooth Jazz back on the dial. In Houston, where I just visited, not one but two HD signals were carrying Smooth Jazz. Both CBS and Clear Channel have Smooth Jazz stations on their HD2 signals. KWJZ could easily activate an HD2 on 98.9 and put their Smooth Jazz library back on that station on autopilot. It wouldn't harm their new Click 98.9 at all, but was be great for us Smooth Jazz/Chill aficianados. Even Clear Channel could put it on 95.7 HD 2 or CBS on 96.5 HD 2, I mean why six oldies stations between CBS, First Broadcasting, Clear Channel, and Fisher. Egads! Your humble opinions are welcome!
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Where art thou? Smooth Jazz
- Thread starter discjockeyjohn64
- Start date
discjockeyjohn64 said:
They could, but it might not be an easy sell. First, most don't own HD Radios and they don't like paying for another weird gadget if such a station isn't going to perform up to expectations (and HD Radio in general has not.) Second, most Smooth Jazz fans really feel burned by Sandusky and they probably won't settle for anything less than getting their KWJZ back on the main channels.
But the bitter reality is if you lost them this way, you're probably not going to get them back.
CONTENT is what sells new technology ... so if all HD offers is "more of the same", it won't get traction. If they offer Smooth Jazz when it's not available on the main channels ... that is content that has potential to drive sales of receivers. All the stations seem to be waiting for the technology to be mainstream before they will pay attention ... and that will end that strategy very quickly.
S
searadiofreak
Guest
Six oldies stations? How are we defining "oldies" stations? Any format that plays ANYTHING before 1990? Not in my playbook. Right now there are just two oldies stations, KJR-FM, and KVI-AM. They play songs from the 50's-80's, (with little at the beginning and end of these eras), that were pop hits. And I don't consider 104.1 a competitor at this time.
Smooth Jazz, unfortunately will not perform in a PPM world.
Smooth Jazz, unfortunately will not perform in a PPM world.
smooth jazz fans can get right back on track musically with XM/sirius for a little pocket change. for as little as $10- 13 per mo, and a small set up fee, and a few dozen bucks for the unit via e-bay. i think they even have an air staff on the smooth jazz channels.
case closed...no more excuses, and tears seattle!
case closed...no more excuses, and tears seattle!
scott salvatori said:
LOL You can always count on Scott to chime in with an advertisement for Satellite Radio, you must spend way way to much time on the road with your XM radio... Or maybe you are laying the ground work for a jump to XM/Sirius reseller...
i wish i could be like the rest of you all, and just ignore sattellite radio and not check into it. but the fact is XM/sirius programming is so far beyond what seattle AM/FM has to offer, i will gladly fly the XM/sirius flag. prior to 03, before i had XM, life was just another boring run on the road at night, yelling at the lame music programming, and the idiot card/logo readerbots. sure for a while KEZX in the 80's, and KMTT in the early/mid 90's had some good music playlists in the AAA dept (thanks to good PD's/MD's, and live "rule bending" air staff namely, jay phillips). but as far as my fav, country music, zilch!. sometimes i took CD's or homemade country tapes, but too much fiddling with boxes/tapes/cd's falling off the dash and seat.
the first time we got XM, in 2003, was at the start of a long road trip vacation. what amazment to hear country music programming the way it should be done via several channels. i was actually hearing deep merle haggard, and waylon, and loretta songs programmed, along with new, and small label stuff like mandy barnett, and dale watson(wowsers, scotts own programming style done nationally/proffesionally by a corporate entity).
i still hope the best for seattle radio, and follow the changes, but for any smooth jazz fan, XM/sirius is also your answer. and my guess is its probably better programmed than KWJZ..........
the first time we got XM, in 2003, was at the start of a long road trip vacation. what amazment to hear country music programming the way it should be done via several channels. i was actually hearing deep merle haggard, and waylon, and loretta songs programmed, along with new, and small label stuff like mandy barnett, and dale watson(wowsers, scotts own programming style done nationally/proffesionally by a corporate entity).
i still hope the best for seattle radio, and follow the changes, but for any smooth jazz fan, XM/sirius is also your answer. and my guess is its probably better programmed than KWJZ..........
scott salvatori said:
This coming from someone who frequently rails against automation, voice-tracking and playlists, yet SS loves an operation that is primarily automation controlled and voice-tracked. And yes, all the music heard on satellite radio is researched and on a playlist too..
Say, isn't there a satellite radio discussion board on Radio Info? Maybe you and the other 150 satellite listeners can sit around the virtual campfire, talk about the wonders of satellite radio and eat baked beans. That is if you make the effort to scroll down a little more.
Thanks for all the responses. I have subscribed to XM for six years, and love XM 71 Watercolors. I just feel that free radio should also have a place for this format. As to the writer that questioned six oldies stations, I was in error. I count five, but two of them are HD 2 channels. You have 95.7, 95.7 HD2, 96.5 HD2, 104.5, and 570. These all program variations of the 50's, 60's and 70s music, a little 80's every now and again. I am not against Oldies but feel the HD stream of at least KJR should program something other than what they have on the main channel. Clear Channel's "Smoothest Place on the Planet," format that is run on 99.1 HD2 KODA Houston would be awesome for us here in Seattle. They'll never do it, and that is just plain sad.
You can get a sample of the latter on their website, iheartradio.com.
You can get a sample of the latter on their website, iheartradio.com.
yep, a lot of XM/SR is voice tracked, but not all. check out bill macks show, or the truckin bozo, dale sommers on willies place XM 14, every day, and road dog XM 171. your wrong, not all the music is researched on satellite radio. just heard canadian folk/country rebel, stompin tom connors on XM 12 OUTLAW COUNTRY, comin back from town this afternoon. you tellin me that man has been researched, and recomended for airplay by some suit and tie man consultant with a briefcase? he rarely even gets airplay on mainstream canada country radio. just heard joni mitchell last night grace the XM 40 DEEP TRACKS singin, "love or money". you think that smokin' hot jazzy joni album cut was researched for airplay? a lot of those shows and music, are put together and hand selected by a very competent, and life long music, and radio educated staff. get your facts right when you say "all" the music is researched and playlisted on XM. for the record, nothing wrong with playlisting anyway. it just depends who put together the playlist, i reckon. XM/SR just celebrated their 20 millionth subscriber in DEC, which is a few more than 150.TVradioguru said:
whats this thing about campfires and baked beans you post about, when you scroll a little further down the hall of the radio-info saloon? can i smoke and drink beer there too? this sounds like scotts peeps.
Less dependence on foreign oil?Bongwater said:
And look...we're getting better. This time it only took about 10 posts to evolve from Smooth Jazz to fart jokes. Fewer degrees of separation?
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
Joke? There is nothing funny about 20 million people eating baked beans in the same proximity... Could tip the scales on global warming and set off a chain of event that would destroy the earth as we know it...
One other thing I should note. First, when KWJZ flipped, it was without warning. No hint of what was to come. One minute, they're playing Dave Koz, five minutes later, Kings of Leon.
You might say that's just the way it is in radio. But after watching the recent KUSF bloodbath in San Fransisco and the general (i.e. non-PPM carrying) listener outrage to both changes, I'm really convinced now that this "shock treatment" approach to changing formats is NOT helping terrestrial radio's image in the minds of the general public.
If there was any way the listeners could have been warned ahead of time, could either station have remained on the air in full, or at least some capacity? Maybe a survey of the general audience and feedback could have saved either (KUSF was probably doomed regardless, but could planned switch to KUSF/soon to be KDFC-HD3 for OTA reception or KWJZ-HD2 or HD3 with proper promotion saved either format? And benefited HD Radio at the same time?)
When KYYX flipped to KKMI in 1984. Pat O'Day himself recorded several announcements of the upcoming switch. Granted, there were still a few angry listeners, but most had gotten the memo and accepted it far better and 96.5 MHz limped along with two less than stellar AC formats before becoming KXRX.
Maybe radio was the dominant music distribution medium then. It isn't now. And at the rate things are changing and with this way of abruptly changing a station's format, especially one that has become a fixture on the local radio landscape, can anybody BLAME people for giving up on terrestrial radio? Especially when you've just given them every reason in the world to give up on it?
Changing formats and calls around once in a while is actually healthy for the radio dial. But I think today, the WAY you do it (especially with a niche like Smooth Jazz or AAA, with no local radio alternative) is going to be just as critical. Because once radio listeners make that jump from terrestrial to web/satellite radio and discover what is there compared to terrestrial radio, it's the point of virtually no return (and if they do come back, it's for sports games, instant news, traffic and storm info when the power is out and not much else....)
Remember, terrestrial radio is NOT the only game now and the last thing you want to do boost the competing technologies if those 50,000 watt sticks still mean anything.......
You might say that's just the way it is in radio. But after watching the recent KUSF bloodbath in San Fransisco and the general (i.e. non-PPM carrying) listener outrage to both changes, I'm really convinced now that this "shock treatment" approach to changing formats is NOT helping terrestrial radio's image in the minds of the general public.
If there was any way the listeners could have been warned ahead of time, could either station have remained on the air in full, or at least some capacity? Maybe a survey of the general audience and feedback could have saved either (KUSF was probably doomed regardless, but could planned switch to KUSF/soon to be KDFC-HD3 for OTA reception or KWJZ-HD2 or HD3 with proper promotion saved either format? And benefited HD Radio at the same time?)
When KYYX flipped to KKMI in 1984. Pat O'Day himself recorded several announcements of the upcoming switch. Granted, there were still a few angry listeners, but most had gotten the memo and accepted it far better and 96.5 MHz limped along with two less than stellar AC formats before becoming KXRX.
Maybe radio was the dominant music distribution medium then. It isn't now. And at the rate things are changing and with this way of abruptly changing a station's format, especially one that has become a fixture on the local radio landscape, can anybody BLAME people for giving up on terrestrial radio? Especially when you've just given them every reason in the world to give up on it?
Changing formats and calls around once in a while is actually healthy for the radio dial. But I think today, the WAY you do it (especially with a niche like Smooth Jazz or AAA, with no local radio alternative) is going to be just as critical. Because once radio listeners make that jump from terrestrial to web/satellite radio and discover what is there compared to terrestrial radio, it's the point of virtually no return (and if they do come back, it's for sports games, instant news, traffic and storm info when the power is out and not much else....)
Remember, terrestrial radio is NOT the only game now and the last thing you want to do boost the competing technologies if those 50,000 watt sticks still mean anything.......
some very good thinking, mr bongwater! yep, if KWJZ gave an advance warning for several weeks of a switch to HD2, they could have succesfully corralled a good percentage of that crowd, and its advertisers to an HD radio. hell, they could even have worked out a deal with a vendor to sell them at a cut rate price. most likely they would run off a satellite network, but could still have easily locally programmed, and continued the normal KWJZ playlist, without the payed airstaff. or perhaps advertisers could have supported at least a drive time live personality.
lets run this one by the radio or the TV guru....he'll know...he knows everything. and if he doesnt, he'll just pretend he does, and make it at least sound official.
lets run this one by the radio or the TV guru....he'll know...he knows everything. and if he doesnt, he'll just pretend he does, and make it at least sound official.
scott salvatori said:
Yikes...more also-ran programming for HD radio, which is why it's DOA at the moment.
If EVERY HD radio in this market (not owned by a radio broadcast employee) were tuned to 98.9's HD-2 they still wouldn't show in the PPM!
I love HD radio technology but let's be realistic here. HD success stories are few and far between. So what would be the benefit of broadcasting a floundering format on HD only?
So you're saying that if KWJZ had run announcements about the format change we'd see long lines of people at Best Buy holding HD tuners...
not sure if KWJZ HD registering on the ppm's would happen either. but, consider this: the demographic of KWJZ, is/was a lot more up-scale, urbanite/proffesional/tech and well off, and willing to go HD, than say KGY's toothless classic country hillbilly 80 year old demographic(me), which switched its "real country" to HD last year, in favor of its new pop format on KGY. lines at best buy? prob not
fact is, KWJZ had a core audience for a music product for which there is no local alternative. do i personally care for this music? no! but, the smooth jazz music format in seattle dates back to the early 80's, when KEZX mixed in the elevator jazz, in with the regular format, and even broadcast special dayparts at night that played 100% smooth jazz. this format was also programmed on KNUA/KKNW, circa early 90's, and then another station picked up the night time smooth jazz daypart for a spell after KKNW flipped, before KWJZ launched full time in early 90's. so this format has been a viable part of seattle for decades. an HD broadcast may have worked for this demographic, with the right pre-launch promotion. mr bongwater, is spot on in his post!
fact is, KWJZ had a core audience for a music product for which there is no local alternative. do i personally care for this music? no! but, the smooth jazz music format in seattle dates back to the early 80's, when KEZX mixed in the elevator jazz, in with the regular format, and even broadcast special dayparts at night that played 100% smooth jazz. this format was also programmed on KNUA/KKNW, circa early 90's, and then another station picked up the night time smooth jazz daypart for a spell after KKNW flipped, before KWJZ launched full time in early 90's. so this format has been a viable part of seattle for decades. an HD broadcast may have worked for this demographic, with the right pre-launch promotion. mr bongwater, is spot on in his post!
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